27  France – Fear – Gabriel Chevallier – September 2015 (Score 8.30)

This is the story of a young Frenchman, Jean Dartemont, who survives the horror of the trenches during the “War to end Wars”, the numerous centenaries of which have been marked in various ways over the four years prior to my reading this book.

It was written by a man who served in the trenches of the French army for the whole four years of the war, and is based largely on his experiences and those of the people with whom he served.

To me it is also the greatest indictment I have ever read of the idiocy of the rulers (largely monarchs) of all the old European nations involved, their politicians and their generals who brought about these monstrous events. I found it to be even more powerful than “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque of Germany.

The opening chapter of “Fear” is incredible. It describes precisely the reactions of the leaders of the belligerents and the hordes of ordinary people who are caught up, enthusiastically, in the preparations for what they think will be a glorious war.

Chevallier sums it up beautifully when he says, writing of all the nations involved “Twenty million, all in good faith, following god and their prince …. Twenty million idiots ….. like me”.

We read about the “training” which the men go through. It lasts ten months and then they head for the Front. Life seems rather miserable, even before they reach the front line. They have interminable marches, day and night. Jean Dartemont suddenly realises he now has the inevitable companions to accompany him through the rest of the war – lice – which no amount of scratching, cracking or dousing will rid him of.

We get a clear picture of the absolute boredom experienced by soldiers with nothing, not even a book, to engage them when not carrying out endless drills, trench digging etc.

Jean’s unit is sent on a long, confusing, night march to the Front. They eventually settle in a cellar in a destroyed village a few hundred metres from the front line. Next day, after a good sleep, he goes for a walk through the remains, enjoying the glorious weather. He clearly has no inkling of the hell which awaits him and his comrades.

A few days later they are moved into the attack and discover the sheer terror of experiencing a massive bombardment – shell after shell after shell, interminably.

An even greater horror comes a day later when they finally reach the trenches at the old front line from which the attack had been launched. There are hundreds of fresh French corpses, whole, missing limbs, badly damaged and utterly mangled. The trench opens out and they can see a huge level area covered by thousands of dead comrades, young men and boys. I have always had a loathing of the concept of war and national “glory”, and this strengthened it for me as it did for Jean Dartemont.

Jean is wounded and we have a horrific description of the field hospital and its inmates. Eventually he, along with his companions, is invalided to the rear. He finds himself in a modern, comfortable, hospital (a former girls’ school) being attended by caring young upper-class women doing their bit for the boys.

When one of them asks what it was like at the Front and had he killed any Germans, he said he had never seen a live German and had spent his time marching, digging trenches, carrying barbed wire and. like his comrades, being afraid. At the mention of this word the nurse’s attitude changes. As Jean writes “ever since the world began, thousands and thousands of men have got themselves killed because of the word “afraid” on a woman’s lips.

We accompany Jean through the full four years, witnessing the horrendous experiences he and his companions endure, the total insanity of the “War to end Wars” and, by extension, of all wars. To think that that war, of all wars, was simply a family squabble in which the rulers of all the Europeans involved were cousins from a long historic line of individuals who ruled their own people by fear. Many of their descendants still maintain unwarranted positions of privilege, power and wealth.

I gave this book a score of 8.5 for its educational value, though I didn’t find it a great work of literature.